Yoosung comes back from a late night run for work and MC complains about him being cold while they think about life.

Chapter 6: Warmth

He couldn't believe how late it was when he got home. A couple years ago, it would have been normal for him to stay up this late playing video games, but now that he helped run a veterinary practice and was working on getting his doctorate for specializing in large animals, he had to keep regular hours and be on-call for emergencies, so he rarely had time for LOLOL anymore. He thought about showering, but he was just so exhausted that he just peeled back his winter layers. Not that it would've mattered, really, since he was only a veterinary assistant and still in college, and the night call had been fairly low maintenance, so all he could really do was hand his predecessor his tools and be on stand-by in-case he needed another pair of hands. But after being in a cold barn waiting for a horse to give birth for over six hours, Yoosung was especially eager to dive under the covers, especially with how warm and peaceful his wife looked all snuggled up underneath them. It was around 4 a.m. when he crawled back into bed. Her presence alone made the bed appear more warm and appealing as he took off his glasses and set them by the alarm clock, eager to let the stresses of the day melt away in her embrace.

"Mrrmmm...mmmsung...?" stirred a voice belonging to his wife, who he had accidentally jarred from her sleep. "What are you...? Did you now just get back?" Her long disheveled hair was a clear indicator that he had awoken her from a particularly deep sleep, making Yoosung feel a twinge of guilt for being the cause of her distress as he leaned over her to fix the covers around them and slid into bed.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for waking you, MC. Go back to bed," Yoosung whispered apologetically, giving his wife a kiss on the temple as he instinctively wrapped his arms around her. She instantly curled away from his touch with a slight hiss.

"Jesus Christ, Yoosung... why are you so cold?" MC grumbled, repressing a shiver as goosebumps began to form on her arms and legs.

"I'm sorry, honey. Dr. Fung paged me for a late night run for a pregnant mare, and the barn didn't have any space heaters left for us."

"So that's why you smell of hay," MC mumbled with an afterthought, but not before grabbing Yoosung's arm as he began to retract his arms around her and move away. "I didn't say I didn't want to cuddle. Just grab another blanket."

"But..." Yoosung began, apprehensively trying to avoid hurting his wife. "I don't want to give you pneumonia and make you sick. Plus, what if it affects the baby?"

"Yoosung, I'm pregnant, not made of glass. Me snuggling with my cold husband won't hurt either of us, I promise," she reassured him, mildly irritated that he treated her like she was a bomb ready to go off instead of a woman with needs. Cautiously, Yoosung relented and wrapped a blue fleece blanket around her with his arms and tentatively pulled his wife to his chest, gently resting his hand on the large baby bump on her stomach.

"She seems to be active tonight," Yoosung remarked with a small amused smile, feeling a light thump occasionally tapping against his hand from inside her belly.

"Well, that's because she knows her daddy's home," MC smiled softly as she placed her hand over his on her stomach.

"Sorry that I woke you two up," he apologized again. MC let out a soft sigh, knowing her husband wasn't going to let this go anytime soon.

"No, it's fine. The baby was keeping me up anyways," she yawned, stretching her arms slightly before tucking them back under Yoosung's embrace. "I think I only got to sleep about an hour ago. I'm starting to think she's inherited your ability to stay up all night."

"Ha ha, very funny," he rolled his eyes sarcastically, nestling into her long soft hair. Thinking about his wife and future daughter reminded him of the hours before he had spent with Dr. Fung.

He had been called out to a barn outside of Seoul for a pregnant mare that was giving birth and had to drive almost an hour before he met up with his associate who was to oversee the birth. One of the reasons he had been specifically called out was because the mare had a past history of losing her foals, either due to premature birth or miscarriage, and Dr. Fung thought it would be good experience for him to see how to deliver a foal. Unfortunately for him, horses weren't like people. You couldn't cart them off to a hospital when they went into labor. You had to go out and drive to their place of residence, and since horses were usually pretty private, you couldn't be near them when they gave birth because they would instinctively delay the process in order to protect their foal. So Yoosung ended up sitting out of sight with Dr. Fung while they anxiously waited for the foal. During the wait period, he occasionally flipped out his phone and texted on the RFA app to calm his nerves, but after a while, everyone had gone to sleep and left him in silence.

It had been a long couple of hours, but finally, the mare managed to give birth to a healthy colt. Unfortunately, that fact alone didn't prevent the oncoming complications. Shortly after the colt had arrived, there had been some issues about him not being able to breathe properly, but after quickly removing some of the excess mucus away from its nostrils, the foal had begun to breathe easy and was soon standing within the hour by his mother's side as if nothing had happened. That thought alone scared Yoosung into realizing how fragile life really was.

Horses, born into a world as tiny, awkward, and weak creatures, had the ability to stand only an hour after birth. Most of the time horses didn't even need the interference of humans, but if Yoosung and Dr. Fung hadn't been there to assist the pair, the foal could have suffocated and died. It was because of Yoosung's ability to act that had helped save the foal's life. And it made him think. He helped the foal because he knew how to do it with confidence, but would he be able to do the same when the time came for the birth of his own child? Would he be able to provide the same amount of care and protection as the mare gave her colt?

"MC?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'll be a good dad?" Yoosung asked her. She paused for a moment before positioning herself so she could turn and look at him.

"Of course you will, honey. Why would you say that?" she asked, suddenly more awake than she had been before. He let out an exhausted sigh.

"I don't know... I mean," Yoosung began, running his hand through his hair. "All my life, people kept treating me like a child, and even after all that we've been through, sometimes I still feel like one."

"Well, that's not necessarily a bad thing," MC offered with a small shrug. "Deep down inside, we all have an inner child we like to let out from time to time. We can't be serious all the time..." she trailed off before adding, "Well, except for Jumin."

"No kidding," he scoffed. "But what if I'm no good at the serious parts of parenting? Like what if our daughter gets bad grades or refuses to eat her vegetables or-!"

"Honey, don't worry about it. It's too early to be thinking about all of this. You're just tired. If you're really worried about it, we can discuss it in the morning. This kid won't exactly let me have coffee, you know," MC assured her husband, suddenly craving a cup of coffee more than anything. "And besides, you're not the only whose going to be a first-time parent, you know, and it's not like you're going to be doing this alone. You've got me and your mom, and the whole RFA behind you, so as far as parenting goes, I think we'll be okay. We'll just take it, one step at a time."

Her words may have been forced from lack of sleep, but they left a warm feeling inside his heart. She was right. He didn't have to be alone anymore. After Rika had died, he'd felt like a huge hole had been left behind, like the ground started crumbling beneath him. If he had been alone, he felt like he would have eventually slipped into the same crippling depression that inevitably killed Rika, but thanks to MC, he had stumbled back onto solid ground, and now, not only was he pursuing his dream career, he was happily married to the love of his life and expecting their first child. Before MC, he had been uncertain, but if she was able to help him find solid ground again, then maybe she would help him walk the right path.

"Okay. Just promise me we won't leave Seven in charge of our kid," Yoosung added with a smile. MC wrinkled her nose at the thought of it.

"Yeaahhh, I'm not very comfortable letting Luciel babysit my kid, unless it's through a camera."

"Uh huh," Yoosung agreed. "Speaking of which, did he set up the baby monitors for the house yet?"

"I don't know. I'm too tired to think anymore..." MC sighed tiredly, letting out another yawn.

"Alright, let's get some sleep..." he nodded, snuggling back into his wife's side to try and get comfortable, though his mind felt more awake with questions filled with uncertainty. "But what if he programmed them to only speak Arabic and-?"

"Shhhh, Yoosung, it's time to go to sleep now..." MC shushed her husband.

"Okay..." he yielded, but not before deciding to break the silence one last time by adding, "I love you..."

"Love you too, sweetie," she answered before kissing him and giving him a dark stare. "Now shut up and go to bed."

"Yes ma'am."